a lot of elections don't have consequences, midterm elections. this was supposed to be a status quo election. but something happened here. i think the fever is starting to break. >> absolutely. you're going to see it, i think, on immigration reform, and i think you're going to see it on spending and taxation. and you don't have to effect or change basic tax rates. as you know, there's all sorts of things you can do on so-called tax expenditure dealing with home mortgage deductions, dealing with state and local taxes. also there's things obviously on the spending side, entitlements and domestic spending, this isn't that hard. this is, if you will, a mini-package. this isn't necessarily on the scale of simpson-bowles. it doesn't need to be. this ought to be doable. >> john heilemann, obviously both sides have to give. everyone's been saying that. there needs to be room for compromise, figure out how to get there. how does a deal look? is there a possibility of a deal without extending the bush tax cuts for people who make under $250,000 only? is th